Former fighters in Nigeria’s northeast say the government’s efforts to reintegrate militants from Boko Haram and the Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP) have largely failed, fueling fears of renewed violence in Borno state.
Ali (not his real name), a former ISWAP commander who accepted an amnesty deal two years ago, says he is ready to return to the battlefield.
“The government promised us jobs. That was the agreement. I don’t have anything: no food, no job,” Ali said. “When we go back, we are going to attack, fight a war so we can eat and feed our families.”
Borno, the epicenter of Nigeria’s long-running Islamist insurgency, had enjoyed a period of relative calm. But recent months have seen a resurgence of violence, including a June suicide bombing at a market outside Maiduguri that killed at least 12 people.
While no group claimed responsibility for the blast, both Boko Haram and ISWAP have stepped up attacks on military posts and civilians across the region.
Civilians say they feel abandoned. Modu Ummate, who lost a leg to a roadside bomb earlier this year, recalls eight people killed in that single attack:
“I am scared. The military is not doing enough. Everyone was relaxed because it had been peaceful, but that was negligence, the militants are strong again.”
Borno’s state commissioner acknowledges the flaws in the reintegration program, saying:
“Reintegration is a work in progress. Not everything that former insurgents want will be given to them. We also have the victims to consider. If we over-resource the insurgents, victims will ask: what about us?”
Analysts warn that unless poverty and unemployment are addressed, such programs will fail to hold.
Ali insists he no longer supports ISWAP’s ideology, but without jobs or support, he says he and many other former fighters are prepared to rejoin the group.